Monday, July 23, 2012

THE ZEPPELIN HOLIDAY

In these modern times, it’s hard to be surprised by
everyday progress of science. But, back in 1934, the innovations were
celebrated in unique original ways. A great example is the curious holiday of
June 30, 1934 in Argentina. The reason? That day, the German zeppelin “Graf”
flew over Buenos Aires and the President decided that everyone should have time
to see and enjoy this marvel of modern science.

The final destination of the flight of this zeppelin
was Campo de Mayo military airport in the north west of Buenos Aires suburbs. Before
getting there, it stopped in a German factory located in Coghlan neighborhood.
One of the famous passengers of that zeppelin was Argentine writer and
journalist Manuel Mujica Láinez, who was covering the story for local newspaper
La Nación.

People were really excited by the arrival of the Graf
Zeppelin and woke up early that day to see it in the sky. Many people gathered
in the main squares or climbed to the rooftops of the few building of the city.
The balconies were other great option to try to take a photograph of the
zeppelin. It’s to be noticed that, in those times, the zeppelin tried to
replace the airplanes as the kings of the sky.

The Graf Zeppelin was built in 1928 and its first
flight was between Friedrichshafen, Germany and New York (110 hours). The Graf
was 236 meters long and 80.5 meters in diameter, with a capacity of 105
thousand cubic meters. It was propelled by 5 Marybach-VI-2 fueled motors. Until
today, the Graf is still remembered as a strange aircraft jewel which captured
the attention of Buenos Aires a whole day.